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A very good hotel...with a communication problem

We just returned from five nights at Live Aqua San Miguel de Allende with three kids (9, 11, 13). We were in non-connecting rooms 1205 and 1206 with a courtyard view. Overall we liked the hotel a lot. The property is gorgeous, and the pool is excellent for families. We toured another highly-rated resort and were glad that we chose Live Aqua. The town is the star. You don't need or want an immersive resort. We loved exploring San Miguel de Allende all day and then returning to the hotel in the afternoons. It's a 13-minute walk from the hotel to the center of town.
The rooms are excellent. I loved the beds and pillows. My wife thought the bed was a little hard. The glass bathrooms are gorgeous, and the record players are a nice touch. Overall there's a relaxed luxury feel.
There were absolutely no kid amenities, at check-in, in the rooms, or at turndown. When I questioned the hotel staff about this, I was told that everything is coming - that very soon there will be check-in gifts for kids, kid-sized robes and slippers in the rooms, and milk and cookies at bedtime.
The one major negative, other than communication (below)? The noise. Every single morning we were awakened between 6:20 and 6:40 by maintenance carts/buckets being wheeled by our rooms. It's a quiet hotel, so the lack of soundproofing didn't seem like an issue most of...We just returned from five nights at Live Aqua San Miguel de Allende with three kids (9, 11, 13). We were in non-connecting rooms 1205 and 1206 with a courtyard view. Overall we liked the hotel a lot. The property is gorgeous, and the pool is excellent for families. We toured another highly-rated resort and were glad that we chose Live Aqua. The town is the star. You don't need or want an immersive resort. We loved exploring San Miguel de Allende all day and then returning to the hotel in the afternoons. It's a 13-minute walk from the hotel to the center of town.

The rooms are excellent. I loved the beds and pillows. My wife thought the bed was a little hard. The glass bathrooms are gorgeous, and the record players are a nice touch. Overall there's a relaxed luxury feel.

There were absolutely no kid amenities, at check-in, in the rooms, or at turndown. When I questioned the hotel staff about this, I was told that everything is coming - that very soon there will be check-in gifts for kids, kid-sized robes and slippers in the rooms, and milk and cookies at bedtime.

The one major negative, other than communication (below)? The noise. Every single morning we were awakened between 6:20 and 6:40 by maintenance carts/buckets being wheeled by our rooms. It's a quiet hotel, so the lack of soundproofing didn't seem like an issue most of the time, but the hotel needs to put different wheels on whatever they're pushing around the halls early in the morning (pretty sure it was mop buckets). Because they're loud! And one night at midnight we were all awakened by a loud group of people talking right outside of our rooms for at least five minutes. I'm guessing they had come from the Cigar Bar, which was very close to our rooms. Not sure how the hotel can prevent that, but it was very annoying.

Which brings me to communication - or the complete lack of communication. It's the craziest thing. The hotel does absolutely nothing to communicate with guests. I've never seen anything like it, anywhere in the world. Each of our rooms had two spa brochures, two room service menus, and lists of laundry and minibar prices. That's it. Unless we missed secret drawers somewhere, there was no hotel information at all. What I wanted/expected to see:

* Information on San Miguel de Allende. What's going on the week we're there? What are the best activities for families? What's the significance of the Night of the Altars, which took place the Friday we were there?

* Notification that the pool was going to be closed two days, and when it would reopen, and whether there were arrangements for guests to use the pool at another hotel in the meantime. We found out that the pool was drained after we changed into swimsuits and put on sunscreen (x5) and walked down. Would have been much nicer to have a letter in the room informing us of that in advance. We likely wouldn't have come back to the hotel as early either.

* Information on the kid activities available at the hotel. After I complained about the pool being closed, the hotel staff set up a movie night for us on the terrace, complete with snacks and drinks. This was a highlight of our trip - so fun! - and we were told that anyone could arrange it. Except that it was secret! There was no information anywhere that it was even an option. And we found out the last day that our kids could have been participating in painting and yoga. We would have taken advantage of that throughout our stay. Again, why keep it secret?

* The new wifi password. The password was changed midway through our stay. I'm sure every guest found out about it the same way we did - trying to log in multiple times using the password provided at check-in, and then finally heading to the front desk for a new password. Again, why not deliver a notification to the guest rooms?

* The kids pricing at breakfast. I asked the GM why there wasn't a discount for kids for the breakfast buffet, and I was told that kids were 50% off. But that's not on the menu and the staff don't know about it, and we were charged full price for our kids. The difference was never credited to our account either.

Again, we really liked the hotel. And we loved the location - only five minutes from Fabrica La Aurora, with its art galleries and cafes. After our ok but fairly expensive breakfast buffet at the hotel (without the kids discount), we headed over to Fabrica every morning for coffee and breakfast - very good and far less expensive. Once the hotel gets its kid amenities in place and stops keeping all hotel and city information a secret, this will be a 5-star property. Until then it's 3-4 stars.More

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Date of stay: April 2019

Trip type: Traveled with family

Sleep Quality

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Ask TravelBabbo about Live Aqua Urban Resort San Miguel de Allende

10 Thank TravelBabbo

This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.

LiveAquaSanMiguel, Director General at Live Aqua Urban Resort San Miguel de Allende, responded to this reviewResponded April 17, 2019

Dear TravelBabbo:

Thank you for taking time for writing a review about your experience. I was very disappointed to hear that your stay with us was not what you expected. We have taken numerous actions to assure that the communication issues wont happened again.

And regarding the kids amenities, I personally made the arragements to improve the kids experiences towards to have more and better activities and amenities for them.

We hope to see you and your family again in a near future.

Best Regards,

Alfonso MartinezManaging Director

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Perfect night with excellent food and service. We were attended by Jesus and Carlos. Excellent service. Do not forget to have the Mextai dessert just delicious. The hotel and restaurant are beautiful!!!!

Date of stay: March 2019

Trip type: Traveled as a couple

Ask earthforourkids about Live Aqua Urban Resort San Miguel de Allende

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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.

LiveAquaSanMiguel, General Manager at Live Aqua Urban Resort San Miguel de Allende, responded to this reviewResponded April 15, 2019

Dear earthforourkids:

Thank you for taking the time to share this review with us. It is wonderful to know you had a great experience at our Zibu restaurant.

It really nice to know that you had such an amazing experience.

We hope to see you soon!

Regards,

Alfonso Martinez

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Most 5 Star hotels do not deserve the rating. (Please read more about the FOOD etc on the "Details page") This one deserves every one of their stars! THE HOTEL: You are initially welcomed by an open entrance with a fantastic restaurant on the right (with exterior & interior seating) and a wonderful bakery on the left, where they make the most delicious breads and pastries. The architecture & location are incredible! You can basically stand at almost any spot and get a perfect photo. The combination of materials, landscaping and decor are phenomenal! (See my fotos) and you are just blocks from the main attractions in San Miguel De Allende. THE ROOMS: I went with my daughter, grandson and a friend so we booked 2 rooms, 1 with a king bed and 1 with 2 queens. The view from our rooms was of one of the many waterscapes and sculptures. A sense of calm and freedom abounded. The bathrooms are encased in glass and add to the uniqueness of the architecture. Though the bath area is open and see through, there was a curtain drawn in my room on one side for privacy and both the shower and the toilet are in separate, well lit rooms. There is a record player in the room and a wonderful selection of vinyl records for your use. Don't be fooled by the old school touches though, all the fixtures and services are controlled by high tech control pads. The beds were beyond comfy too!

Date of stay: March 2019

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Ask RealtorWanda about Live Aqua Urban Resort San Miguel de Allende

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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.

LiveAquaSanMiguel, General Manager at Live Aqua Urban Resort San Miguel de Allende, responded to this reviewResponded March 27, 2019

Dear RealtorWanda:

On behalf of Live Aqua San Miguel de Allende we want to thank you for your wonderful review. I am happy to hear that you thoroughly enjoyed your experience with us.

We truly look forward to the opportunity to be your host on your next year trip.

Kind Regards,

Alfonso Martinez

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My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed a special anniversary year dinner at the hotel's fine restaurant. The staff, especially Andres, really went out of its way to make the evening a truly memorable experience! We would certainly recommend this restaurant to others.

Date of stay: December 2018

Trip type: Traveled as a couple

Ask Rory442 about Live Aqua Urban Resort San Miguel de Allende

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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.

LiveAquaSanMiguel, General Manager at Live Aqua Urban Resort San Miguel de Allende, responded to this reviewResponded March 27, 2019

Dear Rory442:

Thank you very much for the time spent on leaving your kind comment.

I am very pleased to know that your experience in our zibu restaurant was excellent.

We hope to see you soon!

Kind regards,

Alfonso Martinez.

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we were visiting for first time with friends thinking of dining took look around mainly it has feeling of being in a huge cement cavern wanted to see cigar bar which turned out to be way out of the way on 2nd or 3rd floor you need to do it all in stairs or walk to very back of hotel for elevator crazy location no one was there so we did bar downstairs off the entrance its attractive as is the restostarted off badly they had no wines by the glass listed but they brought oevr some bottles that theyd pour by glass asked the price and no one at bar knewfinally someone like a mgr came over ond said one was 189 and the other 220we selected the 180 but after found out we were charges the 220 and everyone played dumb when we questioned the bill AND THE PUR WAS MEAGRE we had 2 grey goose martiis well made they are priced astronomically at 300 pesoswe walked out as the dinner menu was banal and very overpriced and of course we didnt like getting cheated on the bar bill we werent going to wait around half hour to get it corrected and frankly were ecstatic to depart--decide to go to mon bistro which was amazingly good well review that soon

Date of stay: March 2019

Trip type: Traveled with friends

Cleanliness

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Ask rlodana about Live Aqua Urban Resort San Miguel de Allende

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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.

LiveAquaSanMiguel, General Manager at Live Aqua Urban Resort San Miguel de Allende, responded to this reviewResponded March 19, 2019

Dear rlodana:

I appreciate the time you took in writing this review about your experience at Live Aqua Urban Resort San Miguel de Allende.

I´m sorry to hear that your experience wasn't what you expected. I assure you that comments like this are taken very seriously, and I will certainly pass along your review about our prices and your experience at the bar.

Kind regards,

Alfonso Martinez

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My fiance and I stayed at Live Urban for two weeks and had such a peaceful experience. It was such a refreshing change from some of the well known over priced hotels that no longer seem to care about the well being of their quests. Besides being a beautiful Oasis with a gorgeous aesthetic based on a " minimalist " aesthetic, the staff is what makes the place. The house keeping staff is incredible going far beyond their duty to keep the rooms neat and even hang up your clothing, and everyone who greets you is always ready to help. We especially loved our our breakfast in bed because we got to talk and know our Captain Raffa who made us smile every morning!

Date of stay: February 2019

Trip type: Traveled as a couple

Ask JlllllY about Live Aqua Urban Resort San Miguel de Allende

Thank JlllllY

This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.

LiveAquaSanMiguel, General Manager at Live Aqua Urban Resort San Miguel de Allende, responded to this reviewResponded March 9, 2019

Dear JIIIIY,

Thank you for taking the time to write such a lovely review.

It is always a pleasure to receive good comments like this about the facilities and service of our hotel. It is really gratifying that you and your fiance have enjoyed the aquatic experience and it was very nice to be part of your trip for two weeks.

I will let our staff know all the great things you said and especially Captain Raffa.We will be happy to welcome you again.

Sincerely,

Alfonso Martínez

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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC.